


I'm Not For Sale But I've Been Sold

by RuletheStars



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-12-17
Updated: 2011-12-19
Packaged: 2017-10-27 11:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/295273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RuletheStars/pseuds/RuletheStars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny has a hidden life, a life that he has been hiding from Steve for the whole year that they have known each other. With emotions running high, will Danny take the risk and let Steve know the whole truth about him and his family? Not only is Danny hiding something but so is Rachel and Stan as well as Grace.</p><p>Will Steve be able to trust Danny or will he let the best thing that has happened to him walk away. Will Danny choose his family or will he choose to add Steve to his Ohana? Danny is a SEAL as well as something else...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Bravo One this is Alpha One, can you confirm your position over?” The comm set crackled as he sat still with his M4 positioned carefully over his chest as he awaited a response. “Bravo oOne confirming that we are in position over.” Sweat prickled at the back of his neck as it slipped out from under his helmet, Sierre Leone was hot even in the middle of the night. It didn’t help that he had fifty pounds in his backpack and his body armour weighed in at sixteen, he was carrying a hell of a lot of weight. Checking his watch he found they were still on time, of course they were with him in charge.

“Bravo One can you confirm that you have set the charges according to the plan over?” He wasn’t entirely happy about the team having four cherries on it, the other nine men he’d worked with for years. A cherry confirmed it over the comms link and with a swift movement with his hands he ordered his unit forward. “Charlie One please await further instructions over” the SWCC team would offer the SEAL unit addition firepower if they needed it. Airpower was a no go this far out.

Mattru Jong definitely wasn’t a place he’d ever come to again, not if he could help it, but when he got a mission he could hardly refuse it. With seven men following him, he silently moved towards their target, from now on they would be comms silent. As soon as they sighted the small house in front of them they crouched low in the wild grass and used thermals to double check what recon the Bravo team had done.

When he was satisfied he signed back to his team and set back to wait until it hit the hour, they had five minutes and then his team would enter the property as the Bravo team covered them. It was tense as the team crouched low and double checked their weapons, this mission was important, four tourists had been taken hostage and it was their job to get them out. They had eight hostiles, six downstairs and two on the second floor. With surprise on their side they’d take down the six before the two upstairs could make a move.

The minutes ticked down and it felt like forever until he pulled out four M84 stun grenades, each of his team had already pulled on their gas masks and they burst out of the grasslands and into the abandoned village. The grenades did their job disorientating the enemy who shot wildly, the Bravo team did an excellent job of covering them as they rushed the last fifty yards and into the two story building with bullets flying around wildly.

He hardly felt his fifty pound gear as he rushed into the building adrenaline doing it’s job, as soon as the door opened he opened fire shooting out a small burst from his M4 and taking out two hostiles. His men would clear the bottom floor, it was up to him to make his way upstairs, shit he could hear firing from one of the rooms, clearly a hostile taking sniper shots at the Bravo team.

Quickly he moved off the stairs and let the others up as he kept cover, the team separated into two, one to the hostages the others to disable the snipers. A bullet whistled over head and smacked into the walls. “Fuck Bravo team adjust your fucking dope and try not to kill the damn friendlies over” he hissed into his comm. Damn this is what happened when you let cherries on your missions, sure everyone had to have their first op. But it was painful when you were the guy everyone wanted to work with.

Every mission lately he’d been taking cherries everywhere and it only made his job harder. The guy behind him Smith was a cherry and he was taking a chance letting the guy cover his back, but they didn’t have time for this. The hostiles needed to be taken out ASAP. Taking a deep breath it was ten seconds to the door, five seconds inside and less than four seconds to empty a thirty round clip into the would be snipers.

Job done so far, he received confirmation of eight kills over the comm set and confirmation of the hostages being extracted and no fatalities or injuries. Even though the mission had gone as planned something felt off and the hair at the back of his neck stood up, one of the guys he’d killed had a radio in his hand. Krio scratched through the battered radio and he raised his hand “out out out” he shouted “everyone to the extraction point we’ve been made.”

Fuck, he knew that he should have complained more about a third of his team being cherries, but this was supposed to be a simple in and out, he’d been picked to lead the team due to his ease with languages. Krio was just one of the many languages that he could speak and understand. He slipped the radio into one of his vest pockets then changed the clip in his M4 “Bravo team we need cover over the hostages Alpha team will split into Alpha Delta and Alpha Echo, Alpha Delta will help you to cover as well over.”

The mission had always been an in and out, no need to recover evidence but they needed to sanitise the building to leave no evidence of themselves behind. The C4 was in his pocket and the detonator in the other so that there was no chance of him accidentally setting it off. The charge had a five minute window and once he was sure that everyone was on the way out he set it live “five minute warning over” he shouted into the comms.

He was the last out of the building taking only thirty seconds, the hostages were already on the way to Jong river where a boat was waiting to take the units back to shore. Everything went to shit when he heard more shouting over the radio and the sound of trucks in the back ground. “Move the fuck out everyone” he turned quickly and with his night vision goggles he could make out two vehicles with twelve men all armed with AK’s and was that a fucking grenade launcher?

“This is Alpha One we have twelve hostiles all armed with AK’s and a grenade launcher, watch out for RPG’s guys” after running a hundred yards he and his men met up with Bravo team as Alpha Echo a group of four SEAL’s moved the hostages towards the boat and towards safety. At two-hundred yards they had charges set up in case the plan went wrong. He always had a back up plan and this was the reason why he kept so many men alive, he always made sure that there was enough cover for their exit.

Stealth was the game so they quickly made their way towards the river, unfortunately the hostiles split up, some entered the house, some followed them. He provided cover for the cherry Smith that had watched his back in the house as they made it to the two hundred yard marker and just before the explosives in the house went off he called out “fire in the hole” over the comms. Smith flinched unused to such noises and he was forced to push the FNG to keep on moving “Bravo one detonate the charges when ready, we are all clear of the explosives.” A short “roger that” came over the comms along with a “fire in the hole” and the whole tree line went up and several hostiles screamed as they got caught up in it.

Smith froze as a sharp burst of fire came at them, in order to save the young man he pushed him out the way and took three bullets to his vest and that fucking hurt. But he didn’t have time to feel the pain or reflect on it, instead he pulled himself up on one knee and sprayed his M4 left to right covering both himself and Smith. “Get the fuck up soldier” he ordered to Smith and dragged him to his feet “Charlie One we need back up over” the SWCC team would come to cover them.

The whistle through the air alerted him to the RPG heading their way and he ducked to the ground covering Smith as debris flew all around him, striking his back, neck and legs. The rest of Bravo team and Alpha Delta covered the two men as they got to their feet and made it to the riverside. Four SWCC boats came out from under the dark firing the M240 machine gun giving them better cover as they decimated the hostiles. Unfortunately the hostile with the grenade launcher got off one more RPG and half the unit hit the ground as yet more debris swallowed them up.

Over his comm Charlie One confirmed the kill and that there were no more hostiles present and the SEAL’s and the four hostages made it to the boats that they had hidden and they pushed it out into the river. Each team checked in that no one was killed, hit or severely injured, just minor injuries from all of the flying debris. The mission wasn’t over not until they made it out to sea and to the submarine that would pick them up and take them to an aircraft carrier.

The SWCC boats and the SEAL unit kept dark and radio silence, it seemed like the hostiles weren’t coming after them. Whoever had done the intel work had messed up badly, it was supposed to be a small group of pirates, not a massive network. He was pissed off that his men had faced RPG’s when they’d only supposed to meet small arms and AK’s. With his M4 ready and armed at his shoulder he kept his eye out until they made it far out to sea.

When the submarine surfaced the hostages and the cherries gasped, he merely made sure that all the hostages, SEAL’s and the SWCC team it safely onboard before he boarded last. The comms line was still up “debrief at thirteen hundred tomorrow guys” he ordered and he could hear the “roger that” echo through his ears before he pulled the set free.

He was soaking wet and annoyed, being shot three times did not help that, nor did that cherry freezing up like that. A young Ensign stopped in front of him and saluted him “I’ve heard a lot of things about you sir.” The seawater dropped off him as he cocked his head his M4 hanging from his shoulders as the strap took the weight. “I hope it was all good things” he said with a smile, god they started these kids out young, it seemed like forever since he was that age.

“It was, Captain Williams” Danny just smiled and patted his thighs, god McGarret was rubbing off on him, he’d strapped one P226 to each thigh and he had four KABAR’s on him and another P226 strapped to his vest as well as enough ammo and grenades to invade a small country. “Hey Ensign Santiago, you think you could show me somewhere I could crash and I may or may not comment on some of those things that you have heard.”

****

After dropping his backpack and weapons under his bunk he’d made his way to the Captain of the USS Maine to debrief and check that the civilians were all in good health. Once they got to the aircraft carrier the hostages, the SEAL’s and the SWCC team would all go their separate ways. Fuck he hated submarines, being stuck in one place reminded him too much of his childhood and that wasn’t a good thing.

Not when he’d been made by the military and spliced in a petri dish, he had no idea what was in his DNA, he just knew that it wasn’t all human. He was faster, stronger, saw further and could fight and shoot better than anyone else in the military, it was why he was a Captain at his age. God he could just imagine if Steve found out, he ran his hand through his messed up hair and sighed, his life had got so complicated lately. His entire childhood had been spent learning the military ways, he had five black belts and spoke over ten languages, he could run rings around normals. Danny wasn’t the only one either, there had been a large group of them that had been made by Project Indigo.

They called themselves Specials, it was better than what the military had called them, instead of names they had numbers, it was all designed to dehumanise them. Danny had been known as S701 which stood for Subject Group 7, the 701 he had no idea what it had meant. Indigo had used them from being kids, who suspected children as being spies? From the age of four and upwards he’d been deployed all over the world, it was easy to pretend to be a lost child and get picked up and then pickpocket a suspect.

When he’d hit twenty-five the President had found out about the Project and shut it down, only it had taken a year for them to decide whether or not to kill the Indigo’s or set them free. Fortunately they’d been given a pass at a free life and Danny had grabbed his chance at a normal life, others had stuck in the military after all it was the only life that they had known. Know and again he’d been sucked in from the Police Force back into the SEAL’s to lead missions.

Unfortunately Danny was the best Indigo they had ever produced and he healed faster than any of his brothers and sisters, attempts to clone him and reproduce him had never worked. Well Grace had been born using Rachel’s eggs and Danny’s DNA, they were both Special’s and that lead them to create a little family, Grace had been three months old when she’d been born. With both of their DNA neither of them could deny Grace as being their child, even though they’d never asked for her, nor been consulted.

They’d married, it was easier to keep things together as a family and register Grace with both of them being parents to her. Being married also gave them a freedom with each other and a chance to learn how to live in the real world and not the military. Rachel had stuck with an English accent, it helped that she’d spent the last five years there and it also gave them an excuse when they didn’t understand something.

Danny had gone straight into the Police Force, he had a perfect memory and could recall entire conversations and recite books from memory. It was his brains and motivation that got him eighty-seven homicide cases under his belt, that and the Jersey Mob killing people off. When Rachel had met Stan also a Special, Danny had been happy, after all he’d introduced them after Danny had ran a SEAL op with him.

Then came the divorce and the move to Hawaii which had pissed him off, Jersey had been the only place he’d ever lived as a free man and it was his home, he’d slept his first night as a man there and not as a soldier. For seven years he’d had a home and now he’d been uprooted and moved closer to a SEAL base, which only meant that he’d be offered even more jobs. Six months with the HPD and they never questioned it when Hickam requested him, the schmucks. Rachel had insisted that Stan quit the missions and he had, which left Danny tying up his mess.

Meeting McGarrett had been a good thing, it had given him a break from being a SEAL, this had been his fifth mission in twelve months, his ‘aunt’ had died in Jersey and he’d had to fly back for her funeral. Hell he’d had to fight Steve off from driving him to the airport because he was flying out from Hickam Airbase not Honolulu. His life was going to get even more difficult because the USS Maine would be meeting up with the USS Enterprise which had Lieutenant Catherine Rollins on it, wasn’t his life just fricking peachy?

Danny really was turning into McGarrett if he was thinking this hard, instead of heading back to his bunk he sought out one of the rec rooms and judging by the loudness he picked the right door to find his nine SEAL mates and fellow Special’s drinking beer. The one problem that the Indigo Project had made during their tampering with Danny and his team mates was adding tattoos to them, tattoos that were impossible to remove because they were etched into the core of their DNA. Removing them would last just shy of a week before coming back, they were marked on the back of their neck, their left hip and their left wrist with a barcode.

Living in Hawaii he covered the hip one with his pants and the one on his neck with longish hair and a high necked shirt and his wrist with a watch, fuck he missed his friends. As he stepped into the room Mark laughed at him and pointed at him with a beer in his hands “nice shiner” Danny’s hand automatically went to his eye which faintly ached, it would probably swell shut soon. “Fuck you” he retorted and rested his hand on Mark’s shoulder as he shoved him down the benches to make room for him to sit down. “Fucking cherry elbowed me in the face when the RPG went off, he panicked” Danny sighed and stole Mark’s beer when he wasn’t looking.

“Seriously, were we guys that bad when we started?” The nine men stared at him and Danny huffed and waved his arms around though not once did he spill any beer “yeah we were fucking perfect, you know born with the right genes” he laughed. “God now I know why you guys are begging me to come back.” A voice piped up to his left and Danny whipped around to look at Will “seriously Danny you only visit us five times and you come back still moaning, shut the fuck up and drink, does that SEAL of yours not keep you entertained?”

“Do. Not. Even. Go. There. And don’t quote Gladiator at me” Danny moaned and grabbed his head and dropped it to the table “in the last year I’ve been shot at more than twenty-eight years in the Navy. On the first day I worked with him, he got me shot and then pulled some krav maga shit and put me on my knees in front of half of the HPD” he lifted up his head as his brothers laughed and sniggered at him. “So what did you do?” Declan asked who grinned at Danny with his green eyes impossibly bright. “What makes you think I did anything” he stuck his finger up at Adam who tossed a balled up piece of paper at him, which Danny caught before it smacked him in the face.

“Okay, okay” he spread his arms wide and took a sip of his beer “I slugged him hard in the face before he thought he could pull that shit on me again, I even tore my ACL and I’ve never done that before.” Jesus McGarrett really was going to kill him. Mark laughed and plucked a fresh beer out of the case and eased the cap off it, his fingers played on the condensation on the glass. “Eh Danny you’ve been shot more times than I can count and you’re complaining about your knee?”

Danny sighed as he picked at the label on his bottle and pulled it off in little strips “he doesn’t know that, we don’t exactly scar... he’s seen me get shot and when he sees me in a t-shirt and there’s no scar... it aint going to be pretty.” It was something that they all lived with, they lived with a massive secret, no wonder so many of the Indigo’s still served in the Navy. “Hooyah Danny, it is what it is...” Mark twisted around and nudged Danny “you ever thought of telling him? He’s one of us isn’t he?” The dark haired man scratched at the back of his head, Mark was his SIC “McGarrett you said?”  


Ace pointed at Mark “Lieutenant Commander McGarrett?” At Danny’s resigned nod Ace laughed “oh man you met your match Danny babe, you remember the grenade thing and the C4?” Danny tilted his head “oh yeah I remember that, they sent a recon team in a Taliban vehicle and simulated a drop off, only they had a box of a hundred grenades or something and a C4 package that detonated when they opened it. That was McGarrett?” He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself “he killed the whole base with that, over ten men but he caught so much shit for using so many explosives.”

Mark smirked and looked at Danny “see he’s bad as you, remember when you packed C4 into a chair and dropped it onto an outpost from a Black Hawk?” With a wave of his hand Danny shrugged it off “I didn’t use over a hundred grenades, just the General’s chair, it was pretty awesome, besides shut up, didn’t you use an RPG to open a door because you couldn’t be bothered to ram it. Pass me a beer bitch.” It was good to be back with the guys that he’d grown up with and they’d carried on drinking late into the night.

****  
The next day after a shower he’d cleaned out his weapons and stored them away, after the debrief and the reports having being filed, it wasn’t long before the USS Maine surfaced and transferred the hostages, the SWCC team and the SEAL’s along with Danny. The hostages that Danny had barely met had been flown off to the nearest Western country to fly back to the US. The SWCC team would fly out later and Danny would fly back to Oahu tonight. Really he wasn’t looking forward to meeting Catherine, not when she knew him as Steve’s partner, but he trusted that she knew how to keep her mouth shut.

The intelligence had been wrong and as Captain he had a responsibility to his men to make sure that mistakes like last night didn’t happen. He was still in his BDU’s as he entered the Intelligence bull pen, unfortunately he bumped into Catherine literally as he walked in the room and he had to reach out to steady her. “Danny?” She questioned as shock passed her face “what are you doing here?” Quickly her brown eyes saw the Captain tabs on him and the SEAL mark, her face blanked over into a mask and she performed a perfect salute.

“Captain Williams, how may I help you?” They seemed to have attracted a bit of an audience and Danny dropped his voice a few octaves lower, his haircut marked him out instantly since it wasn’t regulation length and he was so young to be a Captain. Too many people had heard of him, he’d done so much in the Navy and he hated people being able to put a face to his name, unless it suited him. “Look Lieutenant can I call you Catherine? Please call me Danny... I just need to find out what happened on the last mission. Someone messed up with the intel, we had an extra twelve hostiles that I counted, I’m not sure how many came after that.”

Catherine quickly nodded and they moved over to her desk and instead of taking a chair Danny propped himself up against her desk his ankles folded over each other as he stretched his legs out. Danny gave her a case number and an access code and Catherine narrowed her eyes at him. “Catherine please don’t make me say it, but you can speak freely to me.” The brunette nodded and god Danny could see what Steve saw in her, she was beautiful, the sun bounced in through the windows and turned her hair a riot of colours, auburn, copper and russet.

“Why me? I’m just a Lieutenant, you really should get someone with a higher rank than me to figure this out.” Danny licked at his lip and bit it, his hands already slicing through the air and spreading out to point to everyone in the room. “McGarrett trusts you, so I do too...” he paused and scrunched up his face. “Those with the higher ranks already messed up, I need fresh eyes and someone who can find out why the last three missions of SEAL Team One have had wrong intel. If there is a leak I want it found, my guys aren’t going to put up with this stuff, they’ll walk. I’m making sure they have teaching posts for the next three months or so at Hickam to keep them occupied.”

His teeth carried on worrying at his chapped lips “I’m sorry that I have to tell you that Steve can absolutely not know who I am and what I do. If he ever needs to know I will tell him. I hate that I’m putting you in this position but I don’t have anyone else to do it, I can help from home and co-ordinate efforts with you.” He huffed out a sigh and glanced down at Catherine who seemed to be fighting to keep her mouth shut “just say it Catherine, whatever it is say it.”

“You should tell him” she said softly “he’ll not be mad, he understands national security. He’ll be pissed for an hour or two that you didn’t trust him, he’s a SEAL just like you Danny, what happened to leaving no man behind because that is what you are doing to Steve.” Her hand ran through her hair “do you have any idea how many times he’s called me these last few days? He’s worried sick about you because you haven’t answered your phone, he even phoned your precinct to see if there was any fall out over the Salvo case.”

“Fuck” Danny narrowed his blue eyes “I have a guy in there who will have covered me, he’d have told him that I needed space, he’ll understand- it’s a family thing.” He sighed and rubbed at a deep scratch over his left chin, his whole face was scraped up from hitting the floor hard to avoid the RPG and then from the debris when the RPG had landed. Catherine gently caught his hand “you should probably get stitches for that” she pointed out as Danny shrugged “it’s only a scratch.”

“Now you sound like Steve” Catherine retorted, the rest of the Naval Intelligence Officers were ignoring them now. “God help me if I ever sound like Captain America” he patted his thigh “if I had my gun, I’d tell you to shoot me, well that’s if I didn’t shoot myself first.” The Lieutenant just looked over Danny her dark eyes glazing over with something that Danny couldn’t figure out, it was like she was trying to weigh him up. “He likes you Danny, do you get what I mean?”

How couldn’t Danny understand what she meant, hell it took sheer will sometimes to not jump on McGarrett when he stripped off his shirt in public every other day, hell if he was honest it was every day and even then it could be several times in a day. “I get it Catherine, I really do. You know the saying ‘the only easy day is yesterday’ not to sound corny but I can’t tell Steve yet, about the SEAL thing, not the other thing.” God he hated women even Rachel was trying to set him up with Steve.

“I gotta go” he pulled out a set of papers from under his jacket and handed them over to Catherine when no one was looking “I’ll put in a good word for you, this isn’t exactly your normal type of work. You deserve the extra credit” he put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently “stay safe.” As he went to remove his hand Catherine stopped him “tell him you’re a SEAL before you get involved, he might not forgive you if you lie to him like that.”

“I’ll take it under advisement” he retorted with a wink “you think Steve will buy these as the result of a car crash?” Danny pointed at his face with the obvious evidence of combat injuries, hell he hoped Steve wouldn’t immediately think RPG. “Your face yes, the three bullet shaped bruises no... how are you even moving? You took those bullets pretty close, I’m surprised you didn’t break any ribs.” Danny stood up and smiled brightly “it was all luck babe, my ribs are strapped and since I wear a shirt and tie for work like a professional Steve won’t even see the damage.” Now he was definitely leaving, he wanted the hell off this carrier and he wanted to go back home to see his Ohana, though maybe he could spare Steve a call after he'd talked to Grace. "See you later Lieutenant" Danny beamed as he performed a lazy salute and went off to find his phone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've not got a Beta so all mistakes are mine, I reread all the time but if you spot one please point it out! If you think I can make it better please tell me how. I love concrit.
> 
> Cherry- new soldier  
> FNG- Fucking new guy  
> SIC- Second in command  
> Skittles- people on the flight deck they wear certain colour of vest to show what department they belong to

God Danny had used his witness voice on Catherine, he hated this, why couldn’t his life be simple? Why couldn’t he just leave his SEAL life behind him? He knew honour and duty and about brothers in arms, only unlike Steve Danny hadn’t sworn allegiance to God and country. His country had made him in a lab, he’d been beaten, medically tormented, hazed and put through SERE training before he’d even hit the age of ten. No the reason he did what he did, it was about the man next to him, the men and the women that were Indigo’s and even the Normals.

Around him the carrier speeded through the sea, winds whipping up his sun blond hair it had lightened even more with him being in Oahu, he ran a hand through his hair and heard someone behind him. Quickly he turned around ready to defend himself only to find him face to face with Mark “what’s eating you Danny?” Damn he’d been so lost in thought that Mark had sneaked up on him, no one sneaked up on Danny, his hearing was better than any other of the Indigo’s.

Danny sighed and turned out back to sea and rested his arms on the railing, unfortunately ignoring Mark wouldn’t make him go away, Mark was his SIC and his best friend and actually a twin of Matt who had chosen to be Danny’s brother in civilian life. His blue eyes rested on the skittles running around the landing area prepping planes and helicopters as well as doing routine maintenance, he breathe out slowly and counted to ten as he thought what he could say to Mark.

“Danny I found ten million dollars under your rack, you think I wouldn’t find out if you didn’t sleep with us?” Mark pushed at Danny’s shoulder “does this have anything to do with Grace? Or Matt, is someone threatening you?” Danny whirled around and stepped forward right into Mark’s space “keep your fucking voice down” he hissed before grabbing Mark in close. Out of his pocket he pulled out a small device and pressed the button down, it would render any recording devices unavailable so they couldn’t record what was said.

“The family are fine, even Stan” Danny kept his hold on Mark before stepping backwards and leaning his elbows on the rail so that he was still facing Mark with his back to the ocean. “My team...” he started and wiped a hand over his face “my team stole it, I mean we stole it from an evidence locker at the HPD.” Mark swore under his breath “Danny are you fucking stupid, you stole ten million dollars and expected everything to be okay?” Danny huffed “a mans life depended on that money and I couldn’t get my hands on mine quick enough, I’d even have outed myself to save him.”

His small hands cut through the air keeping his SIC a few steps away from him “there was a bomb around his neck, I convinced the bomb squad to stay back and let me stay with the guy, his name’s Chin. There was no way to get the bomb off without setting it off, I did what I could, even if it was remotely deactivated it still would have blown. I found a trip wire and cut it off and pocketed it before taking the collar off and handing it over to the bomb squad. Kono and Steve let me stay with Chin because I told them I couldn’t risk being seen stealing ten million dollars when I had a daughter.”

Mark looked down at his feet and then looked back at Danny as he figured it all out “you lied about not wanting to get the money so that you could save your friend. You knew that you could replace the money, but what is eating you is that you’re worried you can’t get the money back quick enough. Plus if they ever recount the money the serial numbers won’t match... The smart move Danny, would be to cut loose and leave Hawaii...” Danny looked up at Mark with his jaw clenched and shook his head.

Mark smiled “I didn’t think so, you’re not a guy who takes the easy way out, so tell me how we get the money back” the brunette ignored Danny’s protests “you’ve had our backs for years Danny, we got yours for this.” Danny raised an eyebrow “you already have a we?” Then he raised his hands “I’m such a schmuck, it was in the paper about Chin, you fucking read it and put two and two together when you saw the money. Okay so now you’ve lead a coup and commandeered my team from out from underneath me, what do you plan on doing?”

His SIC beamed back at Danny “whatever you need us to do Captain.” God Danny loved his fellow brothers, other people would have probably stole the money or tried to blackmail him for it. They definitely didn’t volunteer to put ten million dollars back into a vault where it would sit for years untouched unless a lead popped up on on the original case. “I fucking love you guys” Danny smiled “beers are on me when we hit Oahu.” Mark slouched next to Danny “damn right they are, but you’re buttering me up. You do know that blackmail is illegal in the Navy, Danny you always get the beers man.”

Danny squirmed “the last three missions, intel has been sketchy” he waited for Mark to nod before carrying on “they all had the same five people on it, call me cautious but I want to see if there is someone setting us up. Maybe we all did the same mission and they want us dead, or maybe they want to clear up the Indigo Project.” Again he rubbed his hand over his blond scruff, he needed a shave and badly at that “so all of you have some training posts at Hickam.”

What Danny didn’t expect was for Mark to laugh at him “only you Danny would think that being based in Hawaii for a few months would be a bad thing ‘sides we can all get to know your team. They must mean a lot for you if you’re willing to drop ten million on them. Before we do this Danny please tell me that you didn’t clean out your savings for this and I know you can count cards but how the fuck did you get millions?”

It was Danny’s turn to laugh and he patted Mark’s back “counting cards is for schmucks my friend” he held his hand out “investment is the way to go, clever investment. Ergo I have plenty of money left. The ten million is nothing.” The blond went serious again “I have lots of money under plenty of aliases in case anything happens and the whole unit needs to go underground.” Mark shook his head “thats the reason why you scare the bosses Danny, you’re too smart for your own good sometimes.”

Danny merely shrugged and deactivated the device hidden in one of his hands. “I need a beer” Mark agreed and the two men headed down decks. Life was good for Danny, he could go over the layouts with his team and they could put the money back and no one would know what had happened. They especially wouldn’t be pointing the finger at a single father who lived in a shitty apartment, he really needed to move but he wasn’t going to give Steve the pleasure of being right. At first it had been a stop gap until he’d realised that Rachel and Grace really were staying in Hawaii.

When the Indio’s had been released they had been given enough money to start lives, it was a hell of a lot of money, enough to buy their silence or maybe it was compensation. Each of the guys had been given a million dollars, the brass had thought that would be enough to buy their silence, if the press ever found out what the Government had done shit would hit the fan. Though they hadn’t realised that it was the money that kept them quiet but what could happen to them if they scared the public. Mobs were messy and the Indigo’s couldn’t protect themselves from an entire nation.

****  
Forty-eight hours later and Danny had his feet back in Hawaii and he’d just landed at Hickam along with his nine fellow SEAL’s and the four cherries, he’d expected to get changed and get a lift so he could pick up his car from Honolulu airport. Danny excelled at lying and for him to lie he needed to back it up, parking his car in Hickam would be stupid, so would getting someone to pick up his car for him. Steve was often seen on the base, he taught the odd class and kept up his hand to hand training, really the man was an animal.

An animal that was on base and had Danny hiding in a cleaning closet, he hated Steve he really did, trust Danny to land at the same time that Steve had a class. Seriously only this shit happened to Danny and of course Mark had bumped into Steve who was wearing his cop badge and both of Danny’s worlds had collided. It was hard to stay quiet in the small space in his BDU’s with his fifty pound backpack and ten million dollars in a holdall. It was lucky that he’d managed to pick the money up before his mission, if he hadn’t been recalled then he’d have made the journey himself.

Danny didn’t need to press his ear to the door to hear what was being said outside, he could hear just fine through it. “Commander McGarret” he heard Mark say, then Danny heard boots stop and Steve’s voice “do I know you?” Outside Mark just smiled “nah I’m in SEAL Team One man but I’ve heard about you, you lead SEAL Team Six” Mark pointed at Steve and leaned against the wall in his BDU’s. “Man we heard so much about you and the stuff you did in the ‘Stan. It’s a shame we never worked joint ops.”

Steve put his hand out “call me Steve” and looked over the guy in front of him, he looked familiar but why? Williams was on his BDU’s, he actually kind of looked like Danny’s brother Matthew, but Matthew worked with money and he wasn’t a SEAL. “Are you Mark by any chance?” Danny thunked his head against the wall, of course Steve had a perfect memory from the photos that Danny had around his home, plus he’d also told Steve about his twin brothers and told him that one was in the Navy.

Mark heard Danny hit his head against the wall and bit back a smile and instead nodded his head “okay I lied a little bit, I do know about you, Danny’s told me a lot. Well you know when he can call, mostly he writes to me and I might get the letter... you know how it is...” It was weird to see McGarret smile as he heard about Danny and suddenly that whole ten million dollar thing was starting to add up. McGarrett had a thing for Danny and Danny had a thing for McGarrett but they were being men about it and pretending feelings didn’t matter.

Even if Mark couldn’t smell pheromones he’d have known from McGarrett’s face as he smiled, his whole face changed making him look younger and more approachable. A slightly rough voice replied “Danny talks about me to you?” Mark smiled “Danny talks about everyone, don’t sweat it. But no offence man I’d thought you’d be taller and have horns, you know Danny called you a ‘severely deranged Super SEAL who had delusions of grandeur and a fear of common sense oh and the preservation skills of a lemming.”

Mark laughed “he even told me he’d found numbers for therapists because of your pyrotechnics, he thinks you have a problem. I’ll let you in on a secret, he hasn’t told you I’m a SEAL because he knows you’ll tell him you’re just normal like me and I’ll back you up.” Danny was going to kill him, but Mark didn’t care, he just wanted Danny to be happy and if Steve was that then well he’d nudge them together. After all for the last four days all he’d heard about was Steve this and Steve that, Danny had it so bad.

Steve looked over Mark, the man might not look much like Danny but he sure talked like him, embarrassed he rubbed at the back of his neck “well I did keep grenades in his car, he stopped me putting a rocket launcher in the boot last week. But I’m not that bad honestly.” The other SEAL laughed “oh god I’d have killed to see Danny’s face when you tried to put it in, I know my brother so well. He thinks I’m nuts to do this but I have a great Captain so I’m in good hands.” A darkness passed over Steve’s face “I’m sorry to hear about your auntie, I bet you’re frustrated you just missed her funeral.”

“Thanks man, it is what is right? I’m just glad that I’ll be seeing Danny, I have a teaching post here for a few months for R&R, the damn cherries on my last mission need some extra training, I’m thinking drown proofing...” Mark looked at his watch “it was nice to meet you Steve, call me Mark. I’ll be seeing a lot of you I bet, I’ll try not to bring Danny too much booze, well I will, the little shit doesn’t get hangovers. I have some stuff that should blow his balls off.”

That was something else Steve had noticed about Danny, he never had hangovers and never really got that drunk. Despite his compactness he had the highest tolerance of anyone he’d ever met and he’d been a SEAL! He reached out knuckles and bumped them with Mark’s and he noticed the barcode tattoo on Mark’s wrist “interesting ink there brah, that literal that you belong to the state?” Steve’s tattoos all meant something to him, some he’d got to remember the people that he’d lost and he’d seen a surprising amount of soldiers with barcodes.

Danny’s brother just shook his head and turned his wrist over “me and my SEAL Team got wasted on our last leave and we all ended up with the barcode off a beer bottle tattooed on us. It could have been worse right? At least it isn’t a strippers name and I have nothing on my ass.” Steve snorted “I’m sure Danny will love it, I gotta run I have a hand to hand class I have to get to. I’ll see you around Mark.”

Danny hit his head against the wall a few more times and after a few minutes Mark opened the door Steve had gone, without opening his eyes Danny snarked out “I hate you, I really really hate you.” Mark just smiled “I guess you hate the wall too Danno since you keep beating it with your head, don’t you think you have enough bruises?” With his free hand Danny gingerly touched his head and he could feel the heat of a new bruise forming “I don’t know why I put up with you.”

Mark just beamed at Danny “because I pulled a bullet out of your ass twice babe, you don’t hate me, you fucking love me.” Danny’s response to that was to push Mark “I thought we agreed to never bring that up again especially after you felt up that guy in a dress in Thai...” A large hand covered Danny’s mouth muffling his words and Mark sighed “fine, we all have our secrets, we need to get changed and get that ten million back to where ever it goes.”

****  
After putting the ten million back into the HPD vault he’d dropped Ace, Mark and Dec back at Hickam and then he’d had someone drop him off at Honolulu airport it wasn’t that late. He bet Steve would be finishing up work now and maybe the two of them could share a few beers before Danny went back to his shit hole of an apartment. Just because he called it that in his head, it didn’t mean anyone else could mock it.

As he sat in his car he looked at his phone as it turned on, twenty-eight missed calls along with twenty-eight voicemails and thirty-four texts, all from Steve. Awesome. Poor Henry who was still in Newark he felt sorry for his fellow Special, fielding calls from Steve must have been painful. He was just glad that Henry had perfect teeth and he wouldn’t be paying the mans dental bills from him grinding his teeth at Steve. Picking up his cell phone he called Steve’s number.

After barely two rings he heard a harsh “Danno” come from Steve’s end “yes that would be me babe” Danny sassed back. “Seriously Steven what the hell is wrong with you, I swear this would never happen in Jersey. When someone turns their cell off it means they need a bit of space, not that they have been kidnapped or killed by the mob. Do you have any idea how many beers it took me to calm Henry down? He thinks I had a civil union and didn’t invite him.” Even with the phone in his hand he still moved his free one about with the flow of the conversation.

With no answer he rubbed his hand on his jeans and hit his head on his steering wheel “you have Chin running a trace don’t you Steven.” It wasn’t a question, he knew what Steve was like when he got like this. “Er no” even over the phone he sounded guilty as hell “you’re bi Danny?” Of course that was all that Steve would take from what he’d said, seriously the man was an animal he only listened to what he wanted and then picked out what he liked and ignored the problems.

“Seriously Steven that is what you get from that, yes I am bi is that a problem for you?” This really wasn’t the way he’d expected Steve to find out, he was going to tell him, well he had to before he stuck his tongue down Steve’s throat. He was convinced that Steve felt the same way, but getting the other man to admit it, that was Danny’s problem though at least DADT had gone out the window. What a stupid rule in the SEAL’s what happened in the SEAL’s stayed in the SEAL’s.

All Danny could make out from his cell was a strangled noise and a quick “it’s not a problem at all Danny, I’m just sorry that you didn’t feel comfortable enough to tell me. Just because I’m military doesn’t mean...” Danny swiftly cut Steve off “I’m on speakerphone aren’t I?” He hadn’t made Detective for nothing, that noise Steve had made had alerted him to the fact it wasn’t something that he wanted to talk about right now. Danny would bet that the question Steve has asked had slipped out before he’d put his brain in gear.

It wasn’t a problem for Kono and Chin to know, Danny had planned on telling them all eventually, well at least they knew now even if it hadn’t gone the way he’d hoped. One secret down one to go, well that was if he could do it, would Steve even look at him after he’d told him. Danny had told one person before and it had gone so wrong the guy wouldn’t even look at him nor speak to him again, he’d called Danny an animal. Told him that he wasn’t human and couldn’t have a soul if he had been made and not born, he’d been burned once and he couldn’t take that again.

“Chin... Kono” he turned his cell on to speaker phone and hit his head against the steering wheel once more, he was well aware that the sound would carry over his cell. “You’re at Honolulu airport” Steve’s voice rang out in pleasant surprise as both Kono and Chin said “hi” in unison. “Super SEAL stop talking right now before I dick punch you when I next see you, stop with the guilt babe. I thought you’d have noticed, didn’t you spend five years in Naval Intelligence, I gotta say it doesn’t really show and Steven you could have asked me where I was. You know Aqua-man I need a beer, in fact I need several and you’re going to give them to me. I’ll swing by head quarters and see who you guys are currently terrorising.” With that he ended the call and slipped his phone into his jeans pocket.

God he worked with mental people in both his jobs, if his two worlds collided he knew that Steve would get worse and hell Kono would totally beg to be taught things. No she wouldn’t beg she’d kick ass and raise hell until she got what she wanted, that woman was a menace, he’d serve with her any day. She was one of toughest Normals that he knew, both her and Chin, it was why he trusted them with his life, hell he’d even let them on a SEAL mission they’d do so much better than that damn cherry Smith.

Kono was a mini Steve, give her a few years and she’d realise how great she was, if she went for world domination Danny would totally be on her side. Steve had shown her how to shoot the rifle and taught her all of the sniper skills that she knew and he taught her krav maga. If Project Indigo hadn’t been shut down and never allowed to reopen then he’d have suspected Kono and Chin of being Specials, seriously he’d never met anyone as zen as Chin.

In the back of his car he had a bag full of dirty clothes to back up his cover story, really he should have gone home and slept and then turned up at work the next day but call him curious he really wanted to know what Steve thought of Mark. Maybe Danny would even tell the truth to Steve about where he had been, he ran his tongue along his chapped lips as he sat lost in thought. After a few minutes he turned on his engine and pulled on his seat belt and started to drive back to head quarters.

It was a great thing that Danny didn’t need much sleep, he’d been designed to run on ten hours of sleep a week. Most people would think that was awesome to sleep just over an hour every day or ten hours in one night, but that left a lot of time with nothing to do. It didn’t matter how he did it, one hour here and there or all at once. How the hell the scientists had pulled that off Danny didn’t know, but it made him invaluable on missions he could go without sleep for six days and not have a problem. With his Team they all took catnaps on missions to make up the ten hours, no other SEAL Team could operate at the levels that they did.

But boy did Danny get pissy when he was woken up, he only slept ten hours a week and that was the only ten hours of peace and quiet that he got. Some weeks he saved up his hours and slept late into Sunday and if they got a case then he bitched and was a general ass until he got his full hours in. Steve, Chin and Kono had got used to him and just thought that he was a guy that needed a full eight hours sleep a night to be human and Danny let them think that. It was the easier option anyway.

****  
It didn’t take Danny long to pull up outside of head quarters in his usual spot but before he got out he glanced at his reflection in his rearview mirror, he looked rough as fuck. When he’d told Catherine that he’d broken ribs he hadn’t, well he’d cracked one, a Normal shot that close with that calibre of bullet would have broken three maybe four ribs. It was his genes that had saved him, his bones were stronger than a Normals so it took a lot more pressure to break them. But the one rib annoyed him as did all of the bruising and he moved stiffly, a fact that Steve would pick up on quickly, Steve noticed how people moved and the bruises and cuts on his face wouldn’t distract the SEAL for long.

His gun was already holstered at his waist along with his badge, even on his days off he had them close to hand and he never entered HQ without them. With his car parked he took the stairs up towards their bull pen rubbed at his chest, as much as he called Steve Danny was just as bad. The bullets would have seriously injured Smith so Danny had taken them because he knew that he could, even if one had hit him he could have dealt with it. Just because he’d been genetically engineered it didn’t mean that he didn’t feel pain.

The knee thing was just a part of his cover, he’d actually injured it and he’d seen a doctor at Hickam for it. The ACL had healed and the stem cells in his blood had made it like new, everything had grown back, but the knee gave him means for sick leave and that meant that he could still lead SEAL missions. In case of emergences there was a doctor at the main hospital of Oahu at all hours that could treat Danny, the last thing he needed was a blood test to come back wrong or different. It was in his paperwork that he would only allow certain doctors to treat him.

As he pushed open the glass doors he smiled at the three members of 5-O before Steve could say anything he put up a hand “yes Steven I wear jeans and t-shirts, you honestly think I’d wear work clothes to fly in?” It was said as sarcastically as possible, he knew that Steve was going to ask what happened to him “I helped out on a case back home, I took some bullets and a glass window was shot out near me. Hence the face.” He waved his hand helpfully up to point at the bruises and around his sore chest.

“Jesus Danny you look like you got hit with an RPG” already Steve was moving closer to Danny “bullets? You took bullets?” Steve’s voice got higher as he crowded in to Danny’s space. Danny ignored Steve for the minute “Chin, Kono” he greeted and the two cousins shook their heads at Steve’s antics. “What is wrong with you Superman? I take bullets ALL the time, you remember you got me shot” he made a gun shape with his hand “in the first hour that I’d met you.” Steve got closer and closer until he was backed up against one of the tables and his ass hit it so Danny perched himself on it, his legs swinging from it like a little kid.

“How’d the funeral go brah?” Chin asked and Danny smiled and pointed back at Chin “that’s how normal people act Steven, they ask about how things went! The funeral was okay, she lived a great life and it was a good chance to catch up with my family and with my old precinct.” Danny caught Kono making a covert hand signal to Chin signalling that they should leave before Steve actually had an aneurysm since he had Aneurysm Face Number Three on with a side helping of I’m a Chipmunk And You’ve Been Hurt Instead Of Me.

Steve huffed and gently touched at Danny’s face “I don’t always get you shot, who was your back up huh?” A large finger brushed against the left side of his face just underneath his black eye, fortunately it wasn’t swollen shut anymore. “That wasn’t a bullet and it wasn’t glass that did that, someone hit you” Steve was pissed off and he looked like he wanted to fly to Jersey and kick the ass of the person who was supposed to be his backup.

Chin and Kono waved at Danny and Steve and quickly excused themselves saying they had a ‘thing’ and would catch up with Danny tomorrow night over beers. “Traitors” Danny shouted after them, great they just left him alone with Steve, he’d remember that the next time they got hurt and Steve went Super Seal Medic over them. “Where’d you get shot Danny?” Steve demanded and Danny huffed “in the vest you neanderthal and what is an RPG huh? Is that some type of registered nurse? No wonder the hospital hates you if you get hit by nurses and not hit on by them.”

Steve actually looked pained and for a few seconds his hand stayed frozen cupping Danny’s face “an RPG isn’t a nurse Danny it’s a rocket propelled grenade.” God it was so easy to take the piss out of Steve, Danny would never ever get bored of making fun of military terms. “Right, you got hit by them all the time in the ‘Stan.” He smirked “I understand it now, along with not being held as a baby all those RPG’s knocked a few screws loose in your head. See they have pills for that, they could scan you and see what brain damage you got. They could help you Steven.” Danny beamed at Steve hoping that he could distract Steve long enough to forget about being shot in the vest.

It wasn’t his lucky day Steve just stood in front of him and crossed his arms “take off the t-shirt Danno” fuck that was hot, Danny lost a few seconds just looking at Steve’s face which was the I’m Determined Face And Nothing Will Stop Me along with the Worried Face Number Eight, the only Worried Face that Steve ever gave to Danny. He’d checked there was a Worried Face for both Kono and Chin and it was the same but Danny got a different one, a special one. Steve was so close that Danny could easily reach out and put his hands on Steve’s hip and drag him in close but he resisted the temptation.

“I’m not that kind of girl Steve” he sassed back as he gingerly lifted the hem of his t-shirt and as he slowly pulled it up Steve’s hands joined his to help get it off. Steve sucked in a breath as he saw the three bullet shaped bruises over Danny’s chest and the even larger patch of bruising over his cracked rib. “Babe... Babe” Danny tried to catch Steve’s attention but the tall guys eyes were stuck looking at the worst of the bruising. It was instinctive when he caught Steve’s hand and put it over his heart despite the bruising there, Steve would be able to feel the beat under his hand.

“I’m still here Steve and I’m not going anywhere” Danny said softly and Steve seemed to come back to himself and looked him in the eye with his hazel eyes looking soft. Danny’s jeans were belted and high enough to cover the barcode on his hip, in fact most clothing covered it since it was quite low down so he wasn’t worried about Steve seeing it. “You should be in hospital Danny” Steve started his hand gently ghosted over his busted rib “you have broken ribs and you should have had stitches in your face. Don’t they have hospitals in Jersey? How the hell did you make the flight over?”

“Steve I wasn’t going to stay in hospital when I could come home, before you ask I was invited on to the case to take down the last of the Salvo ring, we had bad information and a few shooters. There was a new cop and he didn’t clear a room hence the eye.” Danny frowned that was a new face, what was that face, he’d never seen it on Steve before. It looked kind of soft and smirky “what’s with that face Steve?” Steve smiled back at him “not that one, the one before it” Danny added helpfully.

“You called Hawaii home, see I knew that you loved it here” Danny just rolled his blue eyes he wanted to deny it, but it was true. Grace lived here and so did Steve, he’d lived here for eighteen months now and he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. “Okay yes I called it home because this is where I have an apartment...” Steve coughed and it sounded like “shit hole” but Danny chose to be the bigger man and ignore Steve “... And this is Grace’s home so I guess it’s mine too.” He put his hand over Steve’s mouth to stop him speaking but the bastard licked his palm, it shouldn’t have been sexy at all and Danny shouldn’t be thinking of what else he could get Steve to lick.

“You’re an animal” he said as he pulled his hand back and made a great show of him wiping his hands on his jeans. Steve seemed to pull himself back together and pointed at Danny’s ribs “they really should be wrapped brah. I know you hate it but I’m going to make sure you keep them on.” It wasn’t the first time that Danny had broken his ribs, he’d taken a tumble and Steve had made sure to look after him and he’d been pissed off when Danny had refused to strap his ribs. Actually Steve got really pissed off when Danny got hurt because Danny acted like nothing happened and didn’t really take care of his injuries. It wasn’t like he had to, his body healed itself pretty quickly but Steve didn’t know that.

“Make me babe?” Danny asked incredulously “how are you going to make me do anything?’ Steve was still touching his chest and his Sex Face briefly showed before the I’m A Super SEAL Blank Mask slipped over it. Interesting. But probably not the right time for it “I’m your boss Danny, if you aren’t fit for work then you’re stuck behind the desk with the paperwork.” Danny’s face went red and he huffed and winced as it pulled at his rib, sticking him with the paperwork was a low blow. Seriously there was only so many times he could word shark cage, hanging off a roof, being threatened with a banana (seriously) as conflict resolution.

“Fine” he ground out and waved his hand towards Steve’s office “get the first aid kit and do your thing.” When Steve pulled his hand back and moved off to his office Danny had to breathe deeply, it was strangely erotic being the sole focus point of Steve. “Stay there Danno” he heard drift back to him so he retorted with a “woof woof” god he was going to spend the next fifteen minutes with Steve’s hands all over him, it was getting harder and harder to keep his hands to himself. Once of these days he was going to jump Steve and get the damn man to admit that he liked Danny back, hell Danny could smell pheromones and he knew that Steve was into him.

It only took two minutes for Steve to come back and open up his massive first aid kit, it was a full service combat kit, he knew that Steve also kept one in his trunk and each of the 5-O’s had one too. Danny had one at home and another stashed in a secret storage space in his trunk, along with the first aid kit he had some BDU’s and boots as well as his SEAL backpack along with MRE’s, his M4 plus a spare, grenades, stun grenades, twelve P226‘s, twelve KA-BARS and lots of ammunition. He was pretty sure that Steve had something similar with them both being SEAL’s they had to be ready for anything, if 5-O ever got stranded then they could defend themselves.

Danny stayed quiet as Steve fussed over his face, those hazel eyes seemed to have taken on a greyish hue, it was hard not to smile as Steve pulled out more gauze and dressing packs and carefully cleaned out the cuts before putting over a dressing. He was pretty sure that he’d have more dressings on his face than he had skin on it and he was right, when Steve cleaned up and ditched the medical waste he touched his face. It was nice to have Steve worry over him, only he wanted him to worry over him as a lover not as a work colleague.

Steve found it hard to keep his hands to himself, someone had worked over Danny pretty damn good and he hadn’t been there to protect him! Why the hell hadn’t he insisted on flying to Jersey with him, that had been his gut instinct and he’d ignored it not wanting to come on too strong to Danny, but he was almost sure that Danny felt the same way about him as he did about Danny. But Steve didn’t want to take the risk and mess up the only good thing that he had in his life, relationships Steve couldn’t do, sex he could. But he didn’t just want sex with Danny he wanted something more and he wasn’t sure how he could get it or how to get it.

Looking at Danny’s chest made it hard to breathe, one of the bruises was over Danny’s heart, if it had been a higher calibre or an armour piercing round Danny would be dead. His breathing had got easier when Danny had put his hand over his heart proving to him that Danny really was okay, but still he could have lost him. As he pulled out bandages he watched Danny’s eyes, they followed every movement that he made and he had to clear his throat “this is going to hurt Danno.” He really didn’t want to hurt the man that he cared about but it was the only way to help with the pain, being careful wouldn’t make it easier on Danny, it would just mean that the strapping wouldn’t help.

When Danny winced and sucked in his breath he looked up and saw the blond worrying at his split lip enough to make it bleed despite the butterfly stitches over it, in fact if he looked closer it looked like Danny’s tooth had gone through it, not like he’d been punched which was interesting. Maybe later he could get Danny to talk to him about it, he wanted to know who had backed him up too because they’d done a shit job. He sped up his movements his arms brushing over Danny’s skin each time he passed the bandage from hand to hand until Danny’s whole chest was covered. It was only then that he realised that Danny was in a lot more pain than Steve had thought.

“You haven’t taken painkillers have you” it wasn’t a question he just knew Danny too well and the man looked wiped, almost like he hadn’t slept in a week. That funeral and bust as well as the flights really must have taken it out of him. Danny looked sheepish and that was all Steve needed for confirmation. “Come on we’ll lock up and get out of here and get you home.”

Danny sighed “you never get the beers, you’re only taking me home so you don’t have to pay for the drinks, okay so take me home Aqua-man.” He allowed Steve to help him get his t-shirt back on and went outside and sat on his car as he waited for Steve to lock up, not five minutes later and Steve was outside with Danny’s spare car keys in his hands and a determined look on his face and spoke "I’m driving.” The blond didn’t argue he was tired and sore, now that he was home he felt the pain more acutely since he didn’t have to be in charge. With his men Danny didn’t have that luxury, he couldn’t afford to be weak. Not only had he done the mission in Sierra Leone but he’d also dropped the ten million back into HPD and he hadn’t had his ten hours of sleep this week.

When Steve finally pulled up Danny realised he’d spaced out, they were in front of Steve’s house not his apartment “you got dementia Steve? I don’t live here.” Steve turned to look at him, the space in the Camaro small since Steve had left his truck back outside HQ. “With that head injury Danno you shouldn’t be alone, you got hit more than once and with your ribs being the way they are you won’t be able to get up in the middle of the night so you’re staying here. I bet you signed out AMA, there is no way you got those injuries and walked straight out of hospital.” Danny frowned at Steve and opened his mouth to complain but Steve held up his hand to stop him.

“I’m serious Danny, either you get out the car and walk into my house or I’ll carry you” Steve patted his handcuffs “and I’m not above cuffing you to a bed if it makes you stay put.” Danny sat quiet before looking towards Steve and catching his eyes and he spoke slowly very deliberately “I am that kind of girl Steven.” He left Steve catching flies with his mouth as he got out of the car and headed up towards Steve’s front door and opened it with the spare key that Steve had given him, it took Steve a few moments to get out of the car and lock it, Danny smirked as he disengaged the security alarm. Point to Danny.

“You hungry Danno” Danny shook his head “I ate at the airport, I’m just tired and could do with a beer.” He followed Steve into the kitchen and watched as Steve pulled out a prescription bottle and shook one out “you okay babe?” Danny asked full of concern, had Steve been injured? Was Danny that tired that he hadn’t noticed something that important? Steve shook his head “it’s for you D, you’re clearly in pain and you’re going to take it.” Danny’s heart skipped a beat, he’d spent twenty-five years being a science project and he’d never get enough of tender moments like this when someone actually gave a shit about him. His brothers cared about him, but they’d lived and worked together all of their lives, for a Normal to care, well Danny hadn’t met many of them.

When Steve handed him a glass of water Danny made a face “that is not a beer Steven” he said sternly. Steve made Constipated Face which usually entailed a lecture about saturated fats and drinking beer with medication, Danny didn’t have an ounce of fat on him. It was partly due to his genes but mostly due to the fact that when everyone usually slept Danny exercised, he went running, lifted weights and he even went swimming and surfing not that he let Steve know that. “Danno that is strong, you really can’t drink a beer with that, you had a long flight, it’s going to knock you on your ass so we need to get you up to bed.”

Danny sighed and held out his hand and took the proffered pill and downed it with the glass of water “after you” he pointed to Steve and followed the SEAL up the stairs, huh. They were heading into Steve’s room “I’m in the middle of painting up the other two rooms, I figured after the General Pak case I should do up the house and make it mine” Steve quickly explained and god the man blushed which was adorable. “I’ll uh sleep on the couch and you can sleep here, I mean the sheets are clean and everything.” Danny had never seen Steve this flustered before and decided to take it easy on him.

“Steve. Shut up. The bed is big enough for both of us, I’m not kicking you out of your room” he glanced down at his watch “I know it’s too early for you to sleep now but just come in later, I promise you that you won’t wake me up.” Danny would love to share the bed with Steve under other circumstances but it was still a bit soon for that, it looked like Danny had freaked Steve out by saying that. “I don’t bite Steve, not unless you ask and I don’t have any weird diseases. Don’t all you Rangers bunk down as one, it’ll just be like that.”

All at once the unease fell from Steve’s face and he nodded “it’s the Navy Danny, the Navy” Danny merely smirked in response, like he said it was fun to annoy Steve. “Okay I’m going to wash my face and brush my teeth and hit the sack” he already had a toothbrush here from the many nights that he’d worked at Steve’s. Danny even had some clothes here too and Steve never complained as more and more of Danny’s stuff entered his home. Steve nodded once more and hooked a thumb towards the door “I’ll be up later Danno” he said thickly.

Ah so Danny did affect Steve, that was good to know but right now he was too tired and it took him just a few minutes in the bathroom. Once he’d got back into the bedroom he’d shucked off his shoes, jeans and socks and folded them over the back of a chair before carefully easing off his t-shirt and adding that to the pile. He hit the bed clad only in black boxers and he was more tired than he thought he was, the painkillers must be adding to it. Normally his tolerance to drugs was high but with exhaustion and no sleep for a week it just served to make him sleepy and he easy fell into a deep slumber surrounded by the scent of Steve.


End file.
